18 Watt Marshall

[Fresh_Start]

Does anybody here use a boutique/DIY kit 18 watt Marshall?

I've been looking for an amp kit to start with, and the Trinity sIII 18 Watt looks like a real winner sound clips. There are two different amp variants here, and it's the second one that I'm most interested in (last 4 clips).

Yes, I've crawled all over the 18watt.com forum.

I'm asking here 'coz I want some input from guitar players.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Chip

 

[Rich_S]

Re: 18 Watt Marshall

Check the link in my sig, then go to "The Workshop". I built my "13 Watter" from an old Bogen PA with the unwavering guidance of the guys at 18Watt.com, as well as AX84. Zaphod Phil will forever have my gratitiude for making my first build a smashing success.

So, I can give you some input on the 18 WAtter design in general, but nothing on specific amps or kits. Despite the EL84's it truly sounds like a Marshall. A lot of people complain about it being a 1-trick pony, but it's a great trick. The volume control isn't very useful - it acts more like the gain control on a normal amp, setting the level of dirt. I strongly recommend getting a Weber MiniMASS attenuator to actually control the volume. The 25-watt MiniMASS is cheap - I have one permanently mounted in the back of my combo.

I built a Lite II version - just two knobs: volume and tone. I really don't see the need for more. The Lite II has two input jacks - one gives you a single input triode, and the other gives two triodes in parallel. There is a marked difference in sound. The parallel triodes don't give much more gain, but they give an overall fatter sound - makes up for the lack of Bass and Mid pots.

If you want gain, just add a pedal. My main overdrive sound comes from driving the snot out of the front end with a mid-humped Boss GE-7.

Are you getting the idea I like my 13 Watter?

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: 18 Watt Marshall

I just built one of the last available kits from Ironsounds. It was a very easy build, took about 6 hours to assemble. It's a TMB with two inputs, Normal(Vol/Tone) and the TMB channel (T/M/B/Vol/Vol) and they sound great jumpered together as well. It's also got imedence switching, line out, negative feedback switch and a foot pedal controled gain boost for the tmb channel. The amp is plenty loud and gets a great plexi tone. It is very sensitive to the guitars controls, your touch and tube changes. I mentioned the sensitivity of tube changes because it's been the most sensitive of any of the other tube amps I've had in the last couple of years. It also takes to pedals very well. I've found that I like the normal channel with my R7 full out....incredible tones! I've got to get a mini mass to be able to play at night though. I've been having a blast with it and it covers a lot of ground tone wise. Nice cleans and a wide range of gain from smooth to crunchy. It's not a metal amp, but I suppose it could be with the right pedal. If you are going to plug and play, you will get great blusey to classic rock tones.

The SIII is a great choice as are the GDS and Ceriatone kits. The Weber kit is a good kit price wise, but they do use some lower grade small componants like input jacks and switches. Plus they don't come with any instructions. But do come with the combo cab and speakers or head cab. Trinity, GDS and my Ironsounds come with step by step instructions and GREAT email and forum support.

Every different guitar that I've played through my 18 watt has retained it's own special character no matter how the amp is dialed in. Do you get the feeling that I'm pretty stoked about my amp? I am!

As much as I'm loving the TMB, I want to build a Trem 18 watter now. I've got the bug, building is very addicting.....just ask ScottF! LOL!